1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to drum washing machines and, more particularly, to a steam control device and method of a drum washing machine that can control steam generation by adjusting a water supply time depending on the temperature of water supplied to the washing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drum washing machine includes a cabinet having an opening and a tub disposed inside the cabinet to receive wash water. Further, the drum washing machine includes a drum rotatably mounted inside the tub, a drive motor rotating the drum, a water supply valve supplying wash water into the tub, and a detergent case connected to the water supply valve and receiving detergent. Further, the drum washing machine includes a water discharge unit extending from the tub to an outside of the cabinet, a heater provided to a lower side of the tub to heat wash water, and a steam generator located between the water supply valve and the detergent case.
The drum washing machine performs a steam washing operation as follows. With laundry placed in the drum, a steam heater of the steam generator is operated to supply steam to the drum. During steam washing, the drive motor rotates the drum in the forward and reverse directions to agitate the laundry received therein. Steam generated by the steam heater sterilizes bacteria and fungus in the laundry.
Here, it should be noted that the aforementioned technique is described for understanding the related art of the invention and is not a well-known conventional technique in the art.
In a conventional steam generator, however, since a water supply time is not separately controlled, water drops are likely to be formed in the steam generator due to excessively high humidity in the case where the water supply time is extended despite the rapid generation of steam.
Therefore, there is a need to solve such problems of the washing machine.